6/5/2011

It’s been a busy couple of weeks at the Power House in Baltimore, Maryland.

It started out Sunday with much of our parking lot filled with neighbors' cars, leaving little room for people who drive to church. We've started sending reminders of the need to have the parking lot cleared for church activities to those who live near it.

During Morning Worship we finished our series on God's purposes. We were all able to hear better due to the sound system's new speakers that were donated last week.

With it being Memorial Day weekend we knew we'd either have a very small group or an overflow crowd at Kids' Church. We ended up with 6 kids for the "feed my sheep" story. Of those who came, 3 were kids who had participated in SonRisers on Wednesdays who came to Kids' Church for the first time that day.

Afterward we spent some time finishing the details in setting up "Peace for the Planet" at the Peace Pavilion. Classes were scheduled to begin arriving on Tuesday. You can see pictures of the setup by clicking here.

Sunday also marked the 13th anniversary of the Anderson's arrival in Pigtown.

Though we had the Peace Pavilion set up by Sunday, we had a few items for the teachers that needed to be updated and printed. We finished those on Monday.

Extreme heat came to Baltimore on Tuesday. The schools closed early so the 3rd grade groups were not able to come to the Peace Pavilion. We were able to reschedule them for next Tuesday, though not all our our staff could do so.

86 kids participated in Wednesday's SonRisers activities. With the new kids who came to this activity, we have now crossed over the 900 mark in the number of kid participants in the last 11 months. When you consider the fact that the number doesn't include kids who come to the Peace Pavilion, the NA Meeting (a group home regularly brings their kids to the meeting), and Bible School, we can easily know that we've reached over 1000 kids this year.

The heat continued throughout Wednesday so schools again closed early. The 5th grade group had to cancel their visit to the Peace Pavilion because of it. Since they have 5th grade graduation next week, we were unable to reschedule their visit.

That afternoon we assembled the mailing for Kids' Church News and Pizza Church Press. You can read the June edition of these newsletters at the links provided.

After the NA Meeting we had our final Mid-Week Service before its summer break. Many more people than usual came to this activity, including a first-time visitor to the congregation. We'll resume this group in September.

More seasonal weather returned on Thursday. I spent quite a bit of time that night out on the streets visiting with people who were sitting on their steps enjoying the great weather. In between walks we changed out the front sign to reflect the summer schedule. We also changed out the banner to start promoting Bible School.

Blair, our incoming Mission Center President joined Quentin, Tamara, Sarah, and me in welcoming the 1st grade classes to "Peace for the Planet" on Friday. Afterward, Blair and I had some time to visit.

Friday night brought Pizza Church. Historically, June is one of our lowest months in attendance in this activity. This Friday, however, we nearly ran out of pizza. Much of the crowd was made up of kids who have recently started participating in SonRisers on Wednesdays and have just discovered Pizza Church.

Vonceil and Sarah attended Crystal's graduation on Saturday. She was valedictorian of her class and is attending Graceland this fall. Most of the other kids who are graduating from high school this year have ceremonies on Sunday.

Tamara and I were scheduled to take a couple girls to Friendly's for ice cream sundaes on Saturday evening. Neither of them showed up.

Looking ahead to next week we have our full schedule of activities. In addition, Tamara will bring the communion message on Sunday morning. The 3rd grade classes from School 34 will be at the Peace Pavilion on Tuesday afternoon. We're hoping to get more street time in this week since Mid-Week Service is off the Wednesday schedule until fall. We'll also be working of plans for our summer programming, such as camp, Bible School, and school supply distribution, throughout the week. Next Saturday is our monthly Solid Rock Cafe.

Along with the individuals and activities mentioned, please keep the following families in the forefront of your prayers:

The Pettis Family
The Ceo Family
The Buckner Family
The Butler Family
The Brown Family
The Sugars Family
The Stewart Family
The Adeyale Family

Thank you for your continued prayer support.

Jeff and everyone at
The Power House
“Building the Kingdom of God Here and Now”
PowerHouseMD@Juno.com
www.pigtownchurch.org
http://thisweekatthepowerhouse.blogspot.com/